“No one understood what I was going through.”

Fabien Guindon died after the trench he was working in collapsed, completely engulfing him. When his wife Kim Labrecque arrived at the hospital and saw an ambulance full of mud, she knew instantly what had happened. As she learned more about how Fabien had died, Kim couldn’t sit back. She channeled her grief into promoting change and helping families like hers cope with their loss.

Kim found Threads of Life while searching for information on how to start a support group in Quebec. Her husband Fabien Guindon had died in a trench collapse, and Kim and her family felt alone and adrift in their grief. “I had no one to talk to. No one understood what I was going through.”

When someone told her about Threads of Life, “I came after them like a heat-seeking missile,” she says. Now, “they’re really helping me to fulfill a dream of helping families in Quebec.”

Kim has organized Steps for Life walks in Oka and Montreal, shares her story as a member of the Speakers Bureau, and works directly with other families as a volunteer family guide. Kim has also advocated for regulatory amendments, larger fines for health and safety violations, and for use of those fines to promote health and safety.

“I can’t change what happened, but I can do my best to make good come out of Fabien’s death.”